To the Editor:
“I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, April 17), is an alarm we all need to hear. His main point couldn’t be clearer: The things that have made America strong — our rule of law, our global partnerships and our ability to lead in innovation — are being systematically undermined by a leader more focused on revenge than building a future.
While other countries, like China, are investing in clean energy, advanced technology and long-term strategy, we’re clinging to the past and isolating ourselves in the process. If we don’t start paying attention, demanding accountability and thinking beyond the next news cycle, we will wake up in a country that’s poorer, more divided and left behind.
We ignore Mr. Friedman’s warning at our own peril.
Robert Stewart
Chantilly, Va.
To the Editor:
Like Thomas L. Friedman, I have never been more afraid for my country’s future. But not because of the mistaken economic policies he focuses upon, dangerous as those may be. By far the most dangerous and repugnant reality of President Trump’s second term is his ongoing violation of constitutional guardrails and democratic norms so that he can assume a level of power never intended for any president.
This threat is not simply an undesirable context for potentially fatal economic actions, as Mr. Friedman indicates. Rather, those guardrails are more fundamental to a strong economic future than any particular policy action. Even more important, they are absolutely essential to the decent society that economic activity and government are supposed to promote.
Robert Ward
Albany, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Thomas L. Friedman’s column captures, with characteristic urgency and clarity, the Trump administration’s surrealism and strategic incoherence.
His critique of President Trump’s nostalgia-driven economic nationalism — especially the fetishization of coal at the expense of clean technology innovation — is timely and damning. Few writers can as effectively tie in the everyday absurdities of this administration to their long-term global implications.
However, Mr. Friedman’s tendency to frame China’s techno-authoritarianism as enviably competent risks romanticizing a regime with its own deeply flawed model. And while his anger at Mr. Trump’s recklessness is justified, it would be strengthened by deeper attention to the structural failures — economic, institutional and media-driven — that helped pave the way for such a presidency.
Still, this column deserves to be widely read, not because it comforts, but because it confronts. Mr. Friedman reminds us what’s at stake — and how quickly it can all unravel.
Jack Hill
Cambridge, Mass.
To the Editor:
Thomas L. Friedman tells us that he has never been more afraid for his country’s future. Well, neither have I. And I have been around for 88-plus years, from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Donald Trump, through wars, assassinations, recessions, Watergate, 9/11 and more.
It’s not any one thing, and I may not see how all of this turns out. But my grandchildren will. That is what concerns me.
John A. Viteritti
Laurel, N.Y.
Depression and Aging
To the Editor:
As the editor of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, I write to commend “The New Science of Aging Is Getting Personal,” by Eric Topol (Opinion guest essay, April 25).
One additional point: Depression is the single most personal aspect of aging, across the life span, from childhood to old age. It is not only the antithesis of resilient aging and well-being, but also a modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Depression affects aging at social, behavioral, cellular and molecular levels. It can often be prevented, and it can be treated effectively.
Charles F. Reynolds III
Scarborough, Maine
The writer is a psychiatrist.
Paul Revere’s Legacy
To the Editor:
Re “After 250 Years, a Midnight Ride Inspires Still” (news article, April 21):
Thank you for recounting Paul Revere’s ride. I was moved by the comment made by a local resident who attended the re-enactment: “It reminds us what our forefathers fought for, and that we need to make sure it never gets destroyed.”
Susan Talbott
Baltimore
